English
Department Intent
English Language
VISION
English language has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. English language teaching will equip pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others clearly, effectively and confidently; and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Reading a range of fiction and non-fiction, which covers Lemov’s “Five Plagues of Reading”, enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to develop rich schema helping them make sense of, and to navigate the world in which they live.
INTENT
Our English Language curriculum addresses all of the four domains of the NC:
Literary studies, composition, rhetoric and linguistics and supports the progression in reading, writing, speaking and listening.
We teach reading alongside writing recognising that the two disciplines are interlinked: “reading is breathing in while writing is breathing out”.
We aim high and we are ambitious in English and our language curriculum is high challenge including literary and non-fiction texts (A. Quigley – highest quality reading material): our mantra has been to equip our pupils with the knowledge of concepts, methodology and vocabulary and skills in order to equip them for future study of English/their further employment.
We balance seminal works from the literary canon and across the literary timeline: Conan-Doyle, Dickens, Shakespeare, alongside Toni Morrison, Du Maurier, Susan Hill and Issak Asimov.
We connect our reading using thematically linked units which aim to expose pupils to a range of writers and text which complement the literature text for that unit. A development for the future is to provide recommended reading lists for each unit to challenge and support pupils to broaden their reading horizons. Later in KS3 and into KS4 we are looking to provide access for pupils to academic essays about texts to provide models for how to write about our reading, and to expose them to yet more critical theory. We encourage pupils to make connections between texts continually.
Our young people are from a diverse set of backgrounds yet are bound together by the experience of education within a CofE setting. We therefore select texts that address universal themes of the human experience and ones that are pertinent. We are always adapting and reflecting. KS4 units currently have a skeletal number of texts which I am seeking to augment over the next academic year. Alongside this, currently all units at the beginning of the year feature a text by a BAME author to reflect Black History Month. I would like to expand this so that BAME authors appear in all units as integral texts, not as an addition, so that our increasing number of children from non-white backgrounds can see themselves and their stories reflected in our curriculum.
Our sequence is based on both the acquisition of knowledge and skill and our MTPs address how these are developed and built upon. The units are also timed to coincide with calendared events such as the On the Frontline unit leading up to Remembrance Day and a Season of Giving, supporting the literature unit on A Christmas Carol, focussing on the plight of the poor and an appeal for altruism, covers the Christmas period.
English Literature
VISION
The transferable skills gained through a literary education are various, for instance: critical interpretive reading; skilful writing; articulate speaking; and ethical understanding. These skills are essential for life beyond school. There is a central need for sustained, interpretive reading in many professions; skilful readers capable of critical thinking are always in high demand. Perhaps the greatest transferable skill English can provide, however, is a life-long love of literature and the associated pleasure gained from escaping into a work of fiction.
INTENT
Our curriculum addresses all of the four domains of the English NC:
Literary studies, composition, rhetoric and linguistics and supports the progression in reading, writing, speaking and listening.
We teach literature and language separately at key stage four and moving towards this at key stage three to encourage the pupils to understand the two separate disciplines. Having said that units are thematically linked e.g., a study of Macbeth in year 11 accompanies analysis of extracts of gothic fiction and the creation of our own terrifying tales within our language units.
We aim high and we are ambitious in English Literature and our curriculum is high challenge covering seminal works from the literary canon alongside more contemporary texts and world literature. (A. Quigley – highest quality reading material):
We seek to equip our pupils with the knowledge of concepts, methodology and vocabulary and skills in order to equip them for future study of English Literature and to enhance their further enjoyment of the discipline.
We want pupils to ‘see themselves in what they read’ but also to view literature as an exploration of humanity, and therefore we select texts that address universal themes and ones that are pertinent to our young people. We are always adapting and reflecting. A recent review of Key Stage 3 has led us to reflect that the Victorian period of literature is thoroughly addressed but feel that this is at the expense of developing an understanding of the concept of a literary heritage and the evolution of literature. Our newly appointed Learning Mentor has a background in Classics and we intend to use his expertise to create a unit exposing pupils to Greek myths, Norse and Arabian folktales, and traditional Eurocentric fairy tales. This is an exciting new challenge for the dept and a focus of our development plan to address later in the year.
Our sequence is based on both the acquisition of knowledge and skill as pupils explore the key concepts behind the subject: that text is a construct, texts are a product of place and time, that writers have messages to express through imagery, symbolism and allegory, that literature is an exploration of what it means to be human in a range of situations. Where possible units of work are timed to coincide with calendared events; War Poetry in year 10 is studied in the lead up to Remembrance Sunday, A Christmas Carol is studied as we approach Christmas, KS 3 Shakespeare is designed to coincide with his “birthday” in April.
Curriculum Plans
Staff/Context
- Miss N Simm
- Mrs L Walker
- Mr P Guest
- Mr N Pilkington
- Mrs Z Edwards
- Miss I Farrar
- Miss P Kelly
Enrichment and Extra-Curricular
The department encourages participation in a range of creative writing competitions and many of our pupils have had work included in anthologies. In Years 7 and 8, all pupils are actively encouraged to participate in the BCEHS Reading Challenge and Year 7 are invited to participate in ‘Readathon’ – a fund raising reading challenge. Film club is very popular and aims to get pupils developing an appreciation of cinematography from around the world, past and present. Creative Writing Workshops have also given pupils the opportunity to enter many various competitions as well as develop their skills. Pupils are also given regular opportunities to participate in theatre trips organised through the Drama department.
Pupils have also benefited from our links with Manchester Metropolitan University attending Media skills workshops as well as a variety of events as part of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival.
Knowledge Organisers
Further Resources
Year 10—Mock Exam Vocabulary List
